A Christmas Gift

by Glendon Swarthout

Overview

A Christmas Gift is a reprint of a novel first published by Doubleday in 1977 as The Melodeon. The author later realized he'd given this holiday tale the wrong title and it was reissued in 1992 by St. Martin's Press with the missing "Christmas" in its new title. This fine story was also made into a CBS TV-Movie in 1978, retitled yet again as A Christmas To Remember, starring Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, and Eva Marie Saint. That's where most readers have seen this story when it replays occasionally winter holidays on TV. Very confusing for fans, though, with 3 different titles for exactly the same Christmas story.

This novel did make the New York Times bestseller list when first published and was very well reviewed. It became a Reader's Digest Condensed Book and was also condensed for Good Housekeeping Magazine in December, 1992. Obviously A Christmas Gift has become a classic holiday tale with all these different editions and titles and a TV-Movie made from it as well.

The season is Christmas, the place a remote Michigan farm during the Great Depression, and the miracles are many and wondrous, from a city boy's initiation into the marvels of nature to a thrilling journey that leads to a strange encounter with an ancestor long dead. A Christmas Gift is a remembrance of America's past and of the love, sacrifice, and devotion that unite four generations of a remarkable family. On a stormy Christmas Eve, young James and his old grandfather decide to give the family's heirloom melodeon (a small pump organ) to their impoverished local church so that, on Christmas morning, the congregation can sing to the accompaniment of inspiring music. But how are they to haul the heavy instrument through the most violent blizzard of the year? How? With firece determination and the dubious help of four rambunctious girls -- and the intervention of a mysterious Christmas "cavalryman" who will transform their lives. I challenge any reader to make it through this story's last poignant, memorable chapter without shedding a tear. No one has yet.

Here's a few more of A Christmas Gift's superb reviews --

"A genuine Christmas story...Warm with human goodness and love." Christian Science Monitor

"Glendon Swarthout has written a touching tale for the entire family. It's short and simply written, and its message is clear: Christmas is love and miracles, though small, do happen." Pam Brown, Macon, Georgia Telegraph and News

"All the virtues we associate with Christmas are present -- love, faith, and miracles. It is a gentle tale that could bring tears to the eyes of a couple of generations who will recall life in that long ago, far-away time." Chattanooga, Tennessee Times

"What in ideal Christmas book this is! It's all about miracles...The rest of this charming, beautifully illustrated little book is another Christmas miracle, one the entire community shared." Margaret E. Wiggins, Ft. Wayne, Indiana News-Sentinel

"Trigger memories, tugs at the heartstrings and makes you live inside the minds and souls of the characters...An excellent novel, particularly for this time of year, and a novel that you will want to share with those you love, especially if that love is deep." Bob Shotwell, Phoenix, Arizona Republic

"The story is concisely told but with evident delight inthe magic of words: 'It was a dashing winter day, colder than a dogcatcher's heart'...A Christmas Gift, illustrated with pleasing line drawings by Richard Cuffari, is a short but expertly crafted addition to Mr. Swarthout's output...It may well become one of those novels to which I return whenever I need cheering up." Malcolm Pain, Sheffield, England Morning Telegraph

Product Details

BN ID:	2940013342095
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Publication date:	10/03/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

A Christmas Gift is Glendon Swarthout's family masterpiece, a heartening Christmas tale for family members of all ages. In this respect it's as important a book as Glendon's other classic of teenaged rebellion, Bless the Beasts & Children, which touched several generations of readers as the first novel to deal with animal rights, trying to save a herd of buffalo in Arizona from state-sanctioned slaughter. Dr. Swarthout had 8 of his novels and stories filmed, and others optioned for filming, which is an amazing track record since he had only 23 novels published. But Glendon's stories are plot-strong with well-delineated, unusual, heroic characters in action, which always appeals to actors. Glendon was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction by various publishers, and his stories were always well-reviewed, which makes many of his historically-based tales timeless. If you like A Christmas Gift, try a couple of his other novellas for juveniles, which are also available on-line as ebooks, co-written with his wife, Kathryn. More about the writing Swarthouts can be found on their literary website, www.glendonswarthout.com. Now, because of ebooks, most of Glendon Swarthout's fine novels are available once again to readers world-wide.

Editorial Reviews

"A story spun of the simple and homely old human struggles and virtues that will startle the reader like an unexpected dawn...Here is a book which, while its theme and its attractive illustrations make it a suitable Christmas gift, will provide interesting reading for any time of the year."

Los Angeles Times - Stanton A. Coblentz

"A Christmas Gift is a book that should be a Christmas classic in the tradition of Clement C. Moore. It's a beautiful story of love, and I could hardly read the last two chapters for pausing to mop my streaming eyes. Swarthout's story of small miracles is guaranteed to touch the heart of the coldest Scrooge."

Jackson, Tennessee Sun - Delores Ballard

"True lessons of giving and sharing are conveyed in the sensitive story about the donation of the family heirloom, a melodeon, achieved through a small miracle that reunited a family. Swarthout's moving story succeeds in its simplicity and its setting in an earlier time, full of hope."

Booklist, American Library Association - anonymous anonymous

"Builds the suspense to a lump-in-the-throat climax that will draw many a tear from tender-hearted readers. This kind of story is supposed to have become a victim of our materialist age, but see if you can read it without feeling a surge of sentiment in that closing church scene. It's a charming tale written without a false note and perfectly attuned to the Christmas spirit."

John Barkham Reviews - John Barkham